Written by: Ned Benson
Starring: Lucy Boynton, Justin H. Min, David Corenswet, Austin Crute
Rating: [3/5]
Memories remain so ingrained in our heads that even the slightest sounds or smells can unlock them and provide the opportunity to reminisce. This can look in the form of the smell of one’s favorite food from childhood or as The Greatest Hits displays, a song that can drag you back into the past. This film takes that very literally in a film with a fascinating albeit repetitive premise making for an overall enjoyable viewing experience.
Having suffered the loss of her boyfriend two years ago, Harriet (Lucy Boynton) walks around with noise-cancelling headphones when in public. She does this because the car accident that caused her boyfriend’s death created an affliction where if she hears a song she heard while with him before she gets transported back to the past. This does not allow her to move on, which gets tested when she meets someone new in David (Justin H. Min).
Truly a wild premise and one that deserves appreciation, The Greatest Hits presents a take on grief that has quite an impact. Seeing the affliction placed on Harriet left me to ponder what I would do in that situation. Even barely hearing a song transports her mentally back into the past for the duration of said song to relive moments with a boyfriend she loved dearly. It makes me think what I would do if I were in a similar circumstance and I know, for sure, I would not live in reality and continually be living the rest of my life reliving days with my wife. Yes, an unhealthy approach, but one I would take on and it’s what makes Harriet’s journey here so impactful. She remains trapped by someone who has already died and it inhibits her to move on with her very young life.
Then David comes into the picture providing an opportunity for her. An opportunity for her to open herself up and find love again. Her condition certainly adds some difficulty given she wants to avoid falling into one of her episodes but the relationship dynamic between them comes with such sweetness that nearly took me aback mostly because of Justin H. Min’s performance. After seeing how great Min is at portraying a devastatingly awful person in Shortcomings it was strange seeing him play such a genuinely compassionate person as David. A character with quite the hill to climb in order to connect with Harriet but one that has such a positive impact on the story and truly makes it work.
Now, with all of the positives there is some negative with this film, which mostly comes from the repetitive nature of the plot. After a while the film feels like it loses steam with its presence and just how much this condition for Lucy makes her a time traveler. It even gets to a point where she can literally change the past that becomes somewhat strange and detracts from the central idea of grief. This narrative decision moves away from a story about grief but if she could go back in the past and change the course of her history to save her deceased boyfriend, would she? It somewhat cheapens the story, even if it concludes the whole narrative in quite the beautiful scene.
If anything, on top of the premise, I can find plenty of love for this film simply because it gives Lucy Boynton a leading role, which she deserves. After seeing her captivate the screen on my beloved Sing Street I’ve been waiting for her to get more roles and she does a splendid job in portraying this troubled character. She captures every emotion necessary from the pining for something new while also feeling trapped by her situation. Boynton proves she knows how to operate in the romance genre and I can only hope she can continue to get the roles she deserves and impress as she does here.
A bit of a mixed bag with more good than bad, The Greatest Hits has some hints of the spectacular but gets bogged down with certain elements of its narrative. We have a film with so many sweet moments and characters very much worth loving. It proves I would personally be worse than Harriet and deny the grieving process if I had the option to never move on much like she does here but the beauty of the film lies in her learning to love again and accepting that while she had a beautiful love story with her deceased boyfriend it has a definitive ending.
Films with Josh 
